A key speaker at the Malay Action Front gathering today warned Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other leaders to listen more to the grassroots as the leadership is now in danger of falling apart.

Mazlan Harun, a former Umno Youth leader, said that the government should consider whether it was worthwhile to bail out former Malaysia Airlines chief Tajudin Ramli by buying his 29.09 percent shares back for RM1.8 billion and also spend another RM6 billion in bailing the two LRT (Star and Putra) operators.

"Meanwhile, Malay students are no more getting any scholarships, so what rights are we talking about?" Mazlan said to loud applause from the audience of about 3,000 people at Dewan Merdeka, PWTC.

Mazlan, who is also coordinator of the gathering titled "Tak akan Melayu hilang di dunia" (Malays will not perish from this earth), is the son of former Selangor Mentri Besar Harun Idris (photo).

He noted that at the November 1999 general elections, many Umno members were believed to have even voted for candidates from the traditional rival party, DAP.

"This has to be seen as a challenge to Umno," Mazlan said, adding that it was important to see whether the action by Umno members was merely a "protest vote", which was easier to overcome, or a swing to support the opposition's ideology.

Message to Mahathir

"Today's gathering is to send a message to (PM and Umno president) Dr Mahathir Mohamad that while he is regarded as a visionary leader, he has to listen more to the grassroots," Mazlan stressed to loud applause from the all-Malay participants, of which about 30 percent were women.

Mazlan also identified two groups who were against the Malay unity that MAF was fighting to achieve, namely the Chinese extremists that Mahathir had referred to, and foreigners who wanted to divert attention from the issue of Malay unity. (Dr Mahathir in the last Merdeka Day address and subsequent speeches had likened the Chinese election lobby group, Suqiu, to communists in the past and the extremist religious Al-Ma'unah cult.)

"If the Malays do not realise the threat of these enemies as similar to the extremists during the communist era and May 13, 1969, then we are in trouble," he added.

The foreigners want to see Malays play politics "in a different manner", that is to forget about Malay unity, said Mazlan, also appointed chairman of the newly-set up MAF panel.

Mazlan called on Umno leaders to review all the government's policies if they wished to continue to lead the Malays properly.

Touching on the point raised by many quarters criticising MAF's use of the keris symbol against a red backdrop in its publicity posters, Mazlan said the kris is a symbol of power and the group wants to sanction the cause of Malay unity regardless of ideology.

"This is not a political gathering; it's only political in nature to influence policies and leadership as we believe in criticising leaders if they are not doing right," he added.

Other leaders who spoke included Deputy Information Minister Khalid Yunus, academician Awang Had Salleh, and former MP for Pasir Mas, Ibrahim Ali, another gathering coordinator.